Stock Market & Financial Investment News

Solar-panel backed bonds may be nearing, FT reportsBonds backed by cash flows generated from leasing solar panels may be getting closer and could be brought to market in 2013, according to Financial Times, citing bankers. The report notes recent developments as having paved the way for a near-term solar deal, including SolarCity’s (SCTY) IPO and Kroll's recent report on “evaluating credit risks in solar securitisations.” Reference Link

News For SCTY;JASO;CSIQ;LDK;SPWR;TSL;ESLR;STP;FSLR;YGE From The Last 14 Days

Canadian Solar signs $28.35M credit agreement with Rabobank Hong KongCanadian Solar announced that it has signed a JPY3.5B or $28.35M, credit facility agreement with Rabobank Hong Kong. The credit facility has a two-year maturity and will be used to finance the construction of an initial portfolio of up to 20 MWp of Canadian Solar's solar power plants in Japan.

Canadian Solar identified as top solar pick at Roth CapitalRoth Capital identifies Canadian solar as a top pick in the solar space, citing its leading position among peers this cycle in transforming its business model to focus on downstream and the company’s limited exposure to China. The firm keeps a Buy rating on the shares.

Canadian Solar completes Grand Renewable Solar ProjectCanadian Solar announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Canadian Solar Solutions Inc., reached substantial completion on its 100 MW AC utility-scale Grand Renewable Solar Project. This project, located in the county of Haldimand, consists of approximately 445,000 CS6X MaxPower high-performance Ontario-made modules, and carries the proud distinction of being the largest operational solar farm in the nation.

On The Fly: Pre-market Movers UP AFTER EARNINGS: Amazon (AMZN), up 20.7%... Pandora (P), up 10.3%... Juniper (JNPR), up 9.1%... Visa (V), up 6.7%... Starbucks (SBUX), up 5%... Skyworks (SWKS), up 2.6%... American Airlines (AAL), up 2.1%. ALSO HIGHER: SolarCity (SCTY), up 2.5% after being upgraded to Outperform from Neutral at Baird. DOWN AFTER EARNINGS: Tripadvisor (TRIP), down 8.5%... Biogen (BIIB), down 14.1%.

SunPower to build 100 MW solar power plant for NV Energy SunPower has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with NV Energy to build a 100 MW solar photovoltaic power plant planned for construction in the Eldorado Valley of Boulder City, Nevada. The project is expected to create approximately 200 jobs during construction, which is anticipated to commence before the end of 2015, with commercial operation planned in 2016. SunPower acquired the project from KOMIPO America earlier this year.

Dominion and SunPower partner to supply solar power to New Jersey homeownersDominion (D) subsidiary Dominion Retail and SunPower (SPWR) announced a collaboration of the two companies to offer SunPower solar power systems to New Jersey homeowners. Dominion will provide program details to residents through a marketing campaign scheduled to begin this summer.

On The Fly: Top stock stories at middayStocks on Wall Street were slightly higher at midday in the first trading day of a week that will be light on domestic economic data but heavy on earnings reports. Investors will be receiving profit reports from about 25% of the companies on the S&P 500 this week, making this the highest volume earnings week of this season. ECONOMIC EVENTS: In the U.S., no major data was released. In Europe, Greece reopened its banks three weeks after closing as the country worked out another bailout agreement. The country announced it has started the process of paying off its creditors, including the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with a bridge loan it just received. COMPANY NEWS: Lockheed Martin (LMT) agreed to buy the Sikorsky Aircraft business from United Technologies (UTX) for $9B, noting the price is "effectively reduced" to $7.1B after taking into account tax benefits resulting from the transaction. Shares of Lockheed, which also reported better than expected second quarter results and increased its fiscal year guidance, gained nearly 2% after the Sikorsky announcement and saying it will conduct a strategic review of its government IT infrastructure services business and technical services business... Shares of Morgan Stanley (MS) shares were little changed near noon after the bank reported earnings and revenue, excluding certain adjustments, that topped analysts' consensus forecasts... SunEdison (SUNE) announced a deal to acquire Vivint Solar (VSLR) for approximately $2.2B, payable in a combination of cash, shares of SunEdison common stock and SunEdison convertible notes. In connection with the proposed acquisition of Vivint Solar, SunEdison has entered into a definitive purchase agreement with a subsidiary of TerraForm Power (TERP) which, concurrently with the completion of SunEdison's acquisition of Vivint, will acquire Vivint Solar's rooftop solar portfolio, consisting of 523 MW expected to be installed by year-end 2015, for $922M in cash. Shares of Vivint rose 44% following the announcement, while SunEdison's stock gained 4% and TerraForm dropped 3%. Fellow residential solar installer SolarCity (SCTY), which is backed by Tesla's (TSLA) Elon Musk, rose 7% following the deal in the space. MAJOR MOVERS: Among the notable gainers was Exelixis (EXEL), which rallied 43% after the company reported that a study of cabozantinib in metastatic renal cell carcinoma met its primary endpoint of significant improvement in progression-free survival. The shares were indicated to rise even more in early pre-market trading, but lost some of their gains after Bristol-Myers (BMY) announced that its Opdivo study was stopped early after showing superior overall survival in a Phase 3 study of previously treated patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma. Bristol-Myers rose a bit less than 1% to trade near $70 per share after its own announcement. Also higher was PayPal (PYPL), which gained more than 5.5% in its first day of trading after being spun out of eBay (EBAY). Meanwhile, eBay shares rose over 2%. Cal-Maine Foods (CALM) dropped 8% after posting lower than expected sales and profits in its fourth quarter and warning that while it should have an adequate supply of its primary feed ingredients, the company expects that prices will be "volatile" in the year ahead. Also lower were shares of several gold miners, including Barrick Gold (ABX) and Newmont Mining (NEM), which each fell about 11%, as gold prices declined about 2% near midday. INDEXES: Near midday, the Dow was up 31.66, or 0.18%, to 18,118.11, the Nasdaq was up 9.81, or 0.19%, to 5,219.96, and the S&P 500 was up 2.82, or 0.13%, to 2,129.46.